ADVISORY: TRAVEL NOTES; If Jacksonville Seemed an Unusual Super Bowl Spot, Wait Until Next Year

By RICHARD SANDOMIR

Published: February 13, 2005

Had Norman Mailer gone to the Super Bowl last Sunday, he might have asked, ''Why are we in Jacksonville?''

Jacksonville (below), in northern Florida, was not a Vietnam-like quagmire, but in the view of news media critics, it was too small, too chilly, too dull, too anonymous, too undeserving to play host to a Super Bowl. This was for warm-weather party cities like Miami, New Orleans and Los Angeles, where 24 of the 39 games have been played.

And the National Football League, as travel agent, has another surprise for next year. The Super Bowl is going to another atypical destination: Detroit.

So is the N.F.L. renouncing its past? Not entirely. The big game will be in Miami in 2007 and Phoenix in 2008. But its criteria have changed, partly to reward cities and owners for paying for new stadiums, like Alltel in Jacksonville and Ford Field in Detroit.

''Each of those communities built stadiums, and that's important,'' said the N.F.L. commissioner, Paul Tagliabue. ''When people invest public money in the N.F.L., they get a return, and the Super Bowl is part of the return, when we can do it.''

The philosophy pleases officials in Detroit, which is bigger than Jacksonville and doesn't need to import cruise ships, as the Florida city did, to meet the N.F.L.'s requirements for hotel rooms.

''It's not often they come north, but a lot of fans are from up north, and football is a cold-weather sport,'' said Brad R. Van Dommelen, a senior vice president at the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau. He added: ''Safety should not be a concern.''

It should be noted that Ford Field is a domed stadium. But Detroit is not exactly a resort destination. Its murder rate is rising, its population is shrinking and its unemployment rate is at 14 percent. Even its mayor, Kwame M. Kilpatrick, recently said, ''We've been a black eye on the landscape of America for too long.'' Not exactly an advertisement for next year's Super Bowl.
RICHARD SANDOMIR